Israel’s Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister, Yuli Edelstein, has sent a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs requesting the removal of an iPad application, “The Third Intifada,” that includes the incitement of violent, indeed lethal, “protests” against Israel. The same group, the Arabic-language “Third Intifada,” ran afoul of Facebook’s rules and was banned in March, 2011 because it sought to cause deadly violence to Israelis.
According to a news story in today’s Al Arabiya,
“In a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Mr. Edelstein wrote: “I am convinced that you are aware of this type of application’s ability to unite many toward an objective that could be disastrous.”
” ‘ThirdIntifada’ offers users a stream of news stories and editorials in Arabic, announces upcoming protests, and includes links to nationalistic Palestinian videos and songs, according to Reuters…
“In May, United States attorney Larry Klayman sued Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg for more than $1 billion over the “Third Palestinian Intifada” page, claiming the site had failed to remove the page quickly enough, Reuters reports.
“Meanwhile Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon spoke out and said the creation of the Apple application and the Facebook page outlines a new pattern in attempts to provoke attacks.
” ‘Companies like this that have a global reach also have a responsibility, and they are aware of this responsibility, and I am sure that Apple will act in the same way [as Facebook],’ Mr. Ayalon told Israel’s Army Radio.”
Personally, much as I love my MacBook Pro, I will place my imminent purchase of an iPad on hold until Apple removes this app from its iTunes store.
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